Portland Elections staff update Governance Committee on small-donor program; commission recommends lowering auditor match cap

Portland Elections staff and representatives of the Portland Elections Commission updated the Governance Committee on Sept. 8 on data requested at an Aug. 11 meeting about the city's small-donor matching program and related ordinance (Ordinance 2025-310).

Susan Matei, director of the Small Donors Elections Program, said the Portland Elections Commission had reviewed four topics: the auditor’s match cap, the council certification threshold of 250 Portland donors, tiered matching for council campaigns, and whether to ban paid third-party fundraising. The commission voted to recommend reducing the auditor match cap from $100,000 to $50,000 "to bring it more into alignment with the other program match caps," Matei said. The commission also reviewed historical race costs and match-cap levels, and noted that the auditor’s race historically has had fewer competitive contests and that a lower cap still would exceed the typical cost of those races.

On the council certification threshold of 250 Portland donors, staff said the Commission concluded there is no clear numerical cutoff that reliably differentiates competitive from noncompetitive campaigns. The 2024 cycle was unusual, they said, because voters approved charter changes that eliminated the primary and shifted council races to district-based contests; the commission therefore decided to wait for 2026 data before changing the 250-donor threshold or requiring certification donors to be district residents. Staff noted that many candidates who reached donor thresholds clustered near the thresholds (for example, around 250 and 750 donors), and that there are examples of candidates with fewer than 250 donors who still performed respectably in votes.

On third-party paid fundraising, the Portland Elections Commission discussed but unanimously decided not to recommend a ban. The commission cited enforcement challenges, constitutional concerns, and program effectiveness. Staff described the commission’s routine spot checks of contributions and said that in recent spot checks some donors initially did not remember a donation but confirmed it later when shown donation records. The staff said the Commission discussed possible disclosure or script requirements for third-party fundraisers but concluded it would be difficult to enforce consistent scripts and that crafting enforceable rules is legally complex.

Councillors raised transparency concerns about paid third-party fundraisers and whether payment for canvassing funded with match-eligible donations is consistent with voter intent. Vice Chair Ryan and Councillor Clark asked that the Elections Commission and program staff more closely examine disclosure, training, and financial transparency related to paid third-party fundraising; staff agreed to bring further discussion back to the commission. No votes were taken on new rules at the Sept. 8 meeting. Committee staff noted that Ordinance 2025-310 had previously been sent to full council by this committee.